Obesity is defined as being 20% heavier than your ideal weight.
Obesity in the U.S., the fattest nation on earth, is an epidemic costing the healthcare system 50 billion dollars and causing 300,000 deaths annually.
Over half of Americans are overweight.
One third of American adults are obese.
At the current rate, everyone in America will be obese by 2030.
A 1999 survey in Los Angeles county found that 55% of men and 39% of women are overweight; African-Americans have the highest rate of obesity at 58%, Latinos 44%, whites 44% and Asian-Americans the lowest, 25%.
The number of overweight Californians jumped 50% between 1984 and 1997.
Since 1991, obesity in the southeast jumped 67.2% with Georgia leading at 101.8%.
Southerners are less likely to exercise or join a health club.
The lowest obesity rates were in New England and in the West.
The reasons for U.S. obesity are in our culture of abundance and inactivity.
A primary factor is consuming more calories than you burn off.
A root cause is a sedentary lifestyle combined with readily available high-calorie and fat-rich food.
Getting food was hard work 100 years ago whereas it is easy today without requiring physical activity.
Social and work environments encourage overeating; restaurants compete by offering bigger servings; technology contributes to avoiding exercise.
Geneticists have found that heredity also plays a role and there is evidence that obesity is linked to hormonal irregularities.
A 1995 study in England linked overeating with pathological behavior.
